NO spend Wednesday!!! Useless CAB

Not a penny did I spend today! The Roo and I have walked to the beach and back searching for snow drops. The Roo is also the  weeny girl, the beautiful one called Roo since a baby as she was so tiny she could fit in a pouch!  Glorious spring day - fresh, sunshiney and very mild despite the frost last night.  'OOOO Lovely drops' was all I could hear as we strolled back . I am very lucky to live in the country and have lovely walks on my door step. Few shots of our local beach found on the internert. Low Stead Links part of the heritage coastline, an area of outstanding natural beauty and looked after by the National Trust.

We had homemade soup and buffet bits ( bits of fruit, some ham,) bread for the weeny girl )for lunch. bread - home made of course- all very cheap and cheerful and tasty - Spicy lentil soup Mmmmm.  I am the soup dragon! I have inherited  skills at making a decent 'pot o' or 'pan o' soup from my mater who heralded from the Scotlandshire!  Many a night we would be fed a 'plate o soup'. Food that would stick to your ribs and keep the cold out. Pretty much any veg can become soup and taste bloody good. All left over veg, veg about to go off, past its best.. I stockpile it in the freezer till I have enough and then it  becomes soup.(Not keen on gazpacho however and salad never lasts in my house)

Am feeding  Biggles the Owl lover as well this week. he is on leave from work- its about the only thing I can do in return these days apart from the odd football fridge magnet or silly football badge (All coming in under the £2.00 rule - I don't like paying over this amount for anything £3 at a push for select items) He likes the silly football stuff depicting his team as supreme to a rival so it makes him do a smile. Ah bless.  So  its tuna and cheese baked potatoes with salad this evening - salad will be used up for fajitas on Thursday or Friday. We are away at the weekend to the land of whippets and flat caps and steel. Only for the night to see Mother Biggles but this means food - great food and a good natter while Biggles watches his beloved football team.  Roo is also off to visit her other family so we get a rest from each other.

Contacted the CAB today to find out about debt management options - They were useless. Offered  me a telephone interview/chat with debt adviser ( have already done this) or a Video link interview!!!!
IE Webcam. Said I would prefer to speak to someone in person and was told this was not possible. Person on the phone was ok - didn't really know alot about benefits and how they were awarded IE Working tax Credit and I had to explain it to her. She had no direct experience of it herself.... you could tell. It is a complete pain in the backside to apply for and goes off last tax years earnings not what you currently earn. So many people who do not get Working tax credit seem to think its a cure all for everything and that the government are paying out thousands each month  to individuals to enable them to ride around in flash cars, buy flat screen TV's etc Errrrr Not in this case.

In the end I have made an appointment with CAP not to be confused with CAB. CAP Christians against Poverty area reputable charity who help you to contact your creditors etc and intervene on your behalf so that you are not bullied into paying more than you can reasonably afford. They will visit you at home  to discuss your needs and situation which is very civilised better than a web cam.

Also got the spring/summer clothes out of storage today - floral and colour are back brightening up my wardrobe once again!  I still need to work on the sweeping -I find some domestics incredibly mind numbingly dull.

I have an interview for a PGCE   (Secondary Citizenship and Social sciences)sometime in April. Would be fabulous to get a place and  achieve QTS however that will open up a financial mine field! Thought I may have sold the sodding house by now post redundancy six months ago and house on market for 7 months.
But one step at a time - have arranged to  go into a school for a week and then see if I get accepted before I start to worry  or work on alternative plans!